You are awesome!

January 24, 2018 12:11 pm

Today, January 24th, is National Compliment Day. I’m not sure why it was started but it sounds like a great idea. Let’s be honest, folks are more likely to complain than praise, so having a day to remind us all to be nice to one another is definitely not a bad thing. Who knows? Perhaps the positivity of the day will carry forward into the rest of the week, month or year. We can only hope.

So go for it! Tell that co-worker how much you like that dress or hair style. Tell your supervisor that they really knocked it out of the park with that last presentation. If you ARE the supervisor, give a one of your direct reports some positive feedback about their efforts. Having lunch or dinner in a restaurant? Call the manager over and give that server a compliment instead of a complaint. Tell your friend the thing about them that always makes you smile. Is it their laugh? Their sense of humor? Their quirky fashion sense? Most importantly, be sincere. We often think nice things about each other but how often do we really say them out loud? You never know whose day you are turning around and brightening by extending a little kindness.

You can also have some family fun with this. Have each of your family members (including you of course) write a compliment about each of the other family members on pieces of paper. Put them all in a bowl, jar or basket. After dinner (or whenever) take turns taking a compliment from the container and reading them aloud. If you have a big family or want to keep the positive momentum going, perhaps you can do a few each evening for the entire week. You can probably come up with variations of this idea that work best for your family.

This is also a great way to remind ourselves that even those that can stress us out the most still have positive attributes. I’m quick to tell my teenager what he has forgotten to do but today I’ll take the time to thank him for the one chore is actually very good at and rarely forgets. Also, I will praise him for getting excellent grades. My 6 year old can be complimented for being kind-hearted and generous and for learning how to sort his laundry by color (hey, mommy is SUPER appreciative of this!). You get the idea.